Obama, Backing New Larry David History Show, Avoids the Democratic ‘Resistance’ to Trump

Democrats are pining for President Obama to abandon retirement and join the fight against President Trump. Instead partisans are seeing him lean into his role as a TV producer. He’s partnering with the “Seinfeld” veteran Larry David for an HBO “sketch comedy series about American history” for next year’s Semiquincentennial.On Thursday, Warner Bros. Discovery announced in a statement that Mr. David “will star in, co-write, and executive produce” the untitled series. Higher Ground, “the company headed by Barack and Michelle Obama,” will be two of the five other executive producers — a title often given to those who finance Hollywood’s projects.Yet another executive producer, Jeff Schaffer, will share writing duties with Mr. David as they did on their HBO hit “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” Whatever they churn out will be measured against that series. It’s a creative risk for the duo, but it presents different challenges for Mr. Obama.Democrats are busy casting Mr. Trump as a threat to democracy and all things good. That message will be undercut by the incongruous spectacle of Mr. Obama helming, of all things, a comedy show. Partisans prefer that he’d join, or even lead, their anti-government “resistance.”In June, Mark Leibovich lamented in the Atlantic that “the ‘audacity of hope’ presidency has given way to the fierce lethargy of semi-retirement.” Over versions of the 2008 “Hope” poster with Mr. Obama’s face removed, the headline asked, “Where Is Barack Obama?”Mr. Leibovich wrote that “no matter how brazen” Mr. Trump is, “the most effective communicator in the Democratic Party,” Mr. Obama, “continues to opt for minimal communication.” The former president “dips into politics” only “occasionally … with brief and unmemorable statements, or sporadic fundraising emails.”In the Times last month, Lisa Lerer wrote that amid “protests” and “political violence,” Mr. Obama offered only “veiled critiques and professorial musings” of Mr. Trump in remarks at Hartford, Connecticut. He “believes that offering a steady stream of criticism … would dilute the power of his voice.”Many Democrats can’t accept the fact that Mr. Obama has “done his bit,” to use the phrase popularized by World War I, and earned his rest. Dismissing the passage of time, they’re frustrated that Mr. Obama won’t jump once more into the breach. In May, NBC News wrote that “Team Obama’s bloom may be falling off the rose.” A Democratic strategist, Mike Nellis, told NBC that “one of the challenges the Democratic Party” has is “nostalgia” for Mr. Obama in what is “just a very different era.” NBC noted that “young voters barely have any memory of the nation’s first Black president.” As Ms. Lerer put it, “many older Democrats are still nostalgic” for Mr. Obama, but “an entire generation of voters have reached voting age in the two decades since he became a national political figure.”The generation gap was illustrated by Mr. Obama’s quote announcing the new show. “I’ve sat across the table from some of the world’s most difficult leaders and wrestled with some of our most intractable problems,” he said. “Nothing has prepared me for working with Larry David.” That’s what the TikTokers call “a dad joke.”Mr. Obama is no longer the hot, new thing. Mr. Trump is foremost in the minds of young people today and, due to his nonconsecutive terms, he’ll be a force in Washington longer than any chief executive since President Franklin Roosevelt. Democrats are desperate to counter that megaphone, but don’t have many options.President Biden, who tapped out of his race against Mr. Trump, is a poor fit. President Clinton’s “star has faded,” as a professor at Franklin and Marshall College, Yeva Nersisyan, wrote for the Hill in February, but “Obama’s still shines brightly.” That he chooses to twinkle in TV instead of politics is his right.Mr. Obama will remain a force in Democratic politics behind the scenes, but he’s returned to his proverbial farm. Democrats wishing for him to lead the charge against Mr. Trump are likely doomed to disappointment. They’re better off finding a leader for the future and leaving Mr. Obama to his TV project about America’s past.

Obama, Backing New Larry David History Show, Avoids the Democratic ‘Resistance’ to Trump

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